Staying in the High Response Cost, High Yield Zone

As you all know from reading Dr. Phil's book, The Ultimate Weight Solution, managing your weight successfully involves changing your lifestyle and mastering the seven keys. This is a process that involves exchanging unhealthy habits for healthy ones.

One of the habits we have been working on is exchanging Low Response Cost, Low Yield (LRC/LY) foods for High Response Cost, High Yield (HRC/HY) foods. Part of the way we have been doing this is by retraining your taste buds to appreciate the sweetness of fresh fruit and the different flavors you can create from herbs, mustards and vinegars.

In the program, we allow diet sodas and sugar substitutes like stevia and xylitol and recommend low fat and nonfat products. These can be part of a healthy diet when used correctly. We can use these to enhance HRC/HY foods.

Used incorrectly, these fat-free and sugar-free products can keep you hooked on sweet tastes and LRC/LY foods. Dr. Phil stresses whole and unprocessed foods as the foundation for a healthy eating program. These HRC/HY foods are also fantastic "hunger-suppressors" as he discusses in the book. Many of these "fat-free, sugar-free" foods are highly processed and are LRC/LY foods. You may think they are "healthy" because they are "fat-free and sugar-free," so you are tempted to overeat because they seem safe. They also keep your taste buds craving sugar and fat.

It's time to teach your taste buds to appreciate the sweetness in fresh fruit — if you want to enhance the sweetness, add a little cinnamon or real vanilla (no sugar). These spices are naturally sweet and good for you too.

Use fat-free or nonfat dairy products with other HRC/HY foods — use cottage cheese with berries, put some low-fat or nonfat cheese on a salad or spice up some plain nonfat yogurt with mint and top your grilled chicken with it.

I have emphasized trying a new vegetable every week — I want you now to try a new spice as well. Try adding basil to your salad, crushed sage, parsley and garlic as a "crust" for your chicken or mint to your fruit and yogurt parfait.

Make holidays a time to create a special favorite that is HRC/HY and be the one to start some new, healthy family traditions!

Also to all of the Challengers:
Carry your food journal with you and write down every time you eat or drink. When you try to remember at the end of the day, you may forget something. Also, make sure you are checking all of your portions and following the nutrition chapter recommendations explicitly.